This exterior renovation was recently completed in October 2014. The work included the complete renovation of the facade and installation of new windows. We rebuilt the rough framing for the new windows and repaired much of the exterior walls that were water damaged. We used Casement windows by Pella for an unobstructed view through them. The new exterior finish is Hardiplank siding and trim painted Pella Brown to match the aluminum exterior of the windows. The new finishes give this old home a contemporary twist.

This table was designed for the Smith’s in association with their kitchen remodel last year. The proposed table is constructed with tapered ‘leafs’ and the geometry effected by a myriad of forces that surround it.

Construction of this office building for Kistner Concrete Products Inc and designed by Matthew Hume will soon be complete. The design for this building emphasizes light and view by way of a large window wall and entry that extends from the primary envelope of the building. This wall serves a dual purpose in the fact that it also becomes a large work space and service counter on the interior.

Concrete has managed to scale the centuries as one of the most interesting building materials with a seemingly infinite number of applications and visual variations. My latest set of concrete counter tops includes an embedded bowl with emerald green glass chunks that are about the size of a golf ball. This glass adds incredible depth to the top, creates a moment of color and moves from the bottom of the bowl, over the lip and continues to the corner of the sink. This top was polished to varying depths, I wanted to create a solid surface with meandering lines where the top was ground down to expose the aggregate.

Warped is a set of walls, columns and arches composed from mechanically joined wood plys that respond to changes in atmospheric moisture by twisting and bending between open and closed conditions. This is done by re-developing plywood manufacturing methodologies which in the past relied on cross graining techniques to create rigidity and stability within the material. Warped discovers new uses for the ply process by introducing space and shape between the subsequent layers of veneer. It uses the directionality of the wood grain and its reshaping during shrinking and swelling to re-negotiates the means by which different layers can be controlled. By using mechanical fasteners rather than uniform gluing, surfaces can be endowed with moments of intensified strength and stability to areas with no connections that allow the material to reshape itself in direct response to environmental moisture.

The project consists of three structures: the Filleted Surface, the Un-Filleted Surface and the Rib. The two surfaces are 9 ft tall by 6ft wide; the rib is about 8ft long. The surfaces are built from a single building unit which is designed to twist gently with the presence or absence of moisture, and can connect to other cells on all four sides through the use of two types of joints traditionally used in wood construction: the tongue and groove and shiplap. The Filleted Surface connects 160 of these units using 1,250 rivets by first assembling them in vertical rows then fastens these rows together at the bottom and top of the surface only. This allows each vertical row of units to twist independently of the row next to it allowing the surface to open and close like the gills of a fish between dry and wet conditions. The Un-Filleted Surface is constructed of 160 units using 1,750 rivets in the same way as the Filleted Surface except each vertical row is connected together. This forces the entire surface to warp into a convex shape when dry and return to a flat surface when wet. The Rib is constructed out of a unit of a slightly different design. This behaves similar to the surfaces’ units except that it is three sided rather than two. This gives it the ability to become more structural. The shape of the unit is also different allowing them to combine in the form of an arch rather than a straight line. The entire Rib twists to varying degrees between dry and wet conditions.

Recent publication introducing the recent research conducted at the CVA at SUNY Buffalo School of Architecture. The works of Professor Omar Khan, and thesis candidates James Brucz, Matt Hume, and Nick Bruscia are featured.Link: LULU

Omar Khan:Reflexive Architecture Machines presents a series of architecture machines that reflexively address material and information agency in the forming of space. They re-imagine ways of shaping conventional materials such as rubber, concrete, plastic and wood, using computational strategies to develop more complex relations between parts and wholes. This fundamentally challenges the static nature of these industrialized materials and sensitizes them to the ephemeral and dynamic qualities of the environments in which they are fabricated and eventually deployed. The projects rethink the forms and, more importantly, the tools that will bring them about. The work is the outcome of design research conducted in the Situated Technology Research Group at the University at Buffalo Department of Architecture.

The Author

Matthew Hume is an Adjunct Professor at The University at Buffalo School of Architecture and owner of Hume Projects LLC, a design and refined construction company. Matthew has extensive experience in both digital and analog fabrication, Design and construction of buildings and building components, and design and installation of mechanical systems. He holds a Masters Degree and Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from the University at Buffalo.